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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Thy Art Is Murder - Hate

I never actually listened to Thy Art Is Murder until a few
weeks ago, and I am honestly not sure why. They are a band I have heard tons
about and I have always meant to check them out but never actually got around to
it. Then Hate came out and that
changed everything. Hate is a perfect
title for this album since it rivals The Acacia Strain in terms of epitomizing
the sound of Hate, although in a less lyrical comical way, but the album is
heavy and very angry. Also I don’t know what it is about Australia right now
but they are killing it in the deathcore department.

After listening to Hate
a handful of times I went back and listened to the band’s first full length
effort The Adversary and I have to
say that they have made a pretty solid step forward. The Adversary is in no way a bad album, as a matter of fact it probably
has slightly better lead guitar work in terms of solo's than Hate,
but to me The Adversary is missing
something, and Hate fills that void. Hate feels like a unit, it has a better
flow than The Adversary, and feels
like a solid step in furthering the band’s sound.

The one thing I cannot shake though is the guitar tones,
while writing is nasty and there is not anything technically wrong with the
tones themselves, they are a tad on the generic side of things. The guitar tones
sound very similar the ones used on Molotov Solutions last album Insurrection and plenty of other albums. Now this is not a huge
deals as most every band is going djenty with their guitar tones, so in a way
it’s nice that the band did not do that sort of thing, but it would be nice for
them to do their own tones.

Now the writing on the album is very solid. The band has
crafted some very tasty riffs with a number of well-placed crushing breakdowns
one of my favorites being the one found about halfway through ‘Dead Sun’, it is
perfectly timed and incredibly heavy. There is not a whole lot of focus on
atmosphere which is something I am probably a little too attached to, although
the album begins with a fantastic atmospheric opening on the first track ‘Reign
Of Darkness’ that leads into the hate filled instrumental work that is carried
out through the remainder of the album, and the final track ‘Doomed From Birth’
has some nice atmospheric elements, so it is enough to keep me happy. I said
that The Adversary might have better
lead guitar work, at least in the solo department, but Hate is not without a healthy dose of solo’s as is evidenced by the
awesome solo’s in ‘Reign Of Darkness’, ‘The Purest Strain Of Hate’ and in ‘Immolation’ to name a few.

Another notable portion of the album is the drumming. There is
not one spot in particular I find better than any other spot because the drums
are incredibly solid all throughout the album. There are a number of solid fills
and a heaping helping of blast beats to keep the pace fast and keep the backbone of this album strong.

And of course there are the vocals, which are easily one of
the best parts about the album. Chris McMahon’s gutturals never get tiring.
Hearing him growl ‘I am the purest strain of hate’ makes me both terrified and
fueled with energy. It is almost impossible not to head bang and join along on
vocals.

Overall Thy Art Is Murder has crafted one of the best albums
this year. This is going to make my end of the year best of list even harder
than it already will be to write. If you have enjoyed their previous efforts you
will no doubt enjoy Hate, and if you
were like me never bothering to look them up, please take my advice and do
yourself a favor. It is well worth your time.